West Virginia Trade Mission to China

Reporter Scott Finn is accompanying Gov. Joe Manchin and the state’s trade delegation on his trip to China – the first by any sitting governor. You can get the inside look through his daily blog.

 

Day 9: Was it all worth it?

Now that I’m home, that’s the question I keep getting asked – was this trip by West Virginia’s governor to China worth it. What will we get out of it as a state? It’s a fair question, since taxpayer dollars paid for the trip. And it’s impossible to answer, at least in the short term. 

I am told that the Governor’s visit opened a lot of doors for the West Virginia businessmen and women on the trip. We met with a lot of big potatoes – the chairman of the world’s largest coal company, the head of China’s mine safety, the governor of a province the size of California which produces coal. These are people that we never would have met, but for Manchin being there. 

We walk away from the trip with nothing concrete — no new promises of jobs, no commitment to build a factory in West Virginia. But I don’t think that’s a realistic expectation…read-rest-of-day-nine.doc

• Day 8: Take me home… 

• Day 7: Big Potato 

• Days 5 and 6: Red carpet treatment, and being a tourist

• Day 4: The meaning of ‘Mountaineers are always free’ 

• Day 3: The Hard Sell

• Day 2: Shanghai, Clothes dryers and coal 

• Day 1: Manchin goes to China

Explore posts in the same categories: Radio news